Bow City – The village born unlucky
Many thanks to the Historical Society of Alberta, and the legendary Mr. Hugh Dempsey, CM, for the opportunity to share a decade’s worth of research on the former village of Bow City. Below is a brief excerpt from my article, followed by the piece in its entirety, which appears in the Winter 2012 edition of Alberta [...]
“Well that is that, and God bless them anyway”
The story of Francis Miller of Medicine Hat has captured the imagination of the many who are anxiously awaiting the upcoming Royal Visit by Prince William and his new bride, Kate. If you haven’t caught it, Ms. Miller has been afforded the opportunity to meet William and Kate (no word on whether they will henceforth [...]
Some perspective on “Potatogate”
Potato-lovers and tree huggers alike have no doubt been paying attention to the saga playing out north of Bow Island that has been dubbed “Potatogate”. A proposal from a potato grower to purchase 13,600 acres of Crown grazing lease (or 6,500 hectares, potato, potatoe) has come under fire from wilderness groups, politicians and the media. [...]
The Bow City Bridge
Perhaps no development greater improved the lives of settlers along the Bow in the first half of the 20th century more than the construction of the bridge at Bow City. For over two decades, the need for commerce and provisions required the locals to ford the river on their way to centres along the C.P.R. [...]
For Vauxhall, like Retlaw before, disillusion could lead to dissolution
As some in the town of Vauxhall consider dissolving their municipality, it’s interesting to note that the town’s survival was due in part to the dissolution of the neighbouring village to the west. The former village of Retlaw, now a ghost town located six miles west of Vauxhall, was for a time considered the principle [...]
Ranching along the “Big Bow”
Although the first explorers of the Bow Valley southeast of Calgary questioned the suitability of the land for agriculture, the vacant mixed grass prairie did prove ideal for one thing: grazing cattle. Following the demise of the buffalo and the confinement of the Indians on reservations, cattlemen big and small moved their herds onto the [...]
Forgotten Alberta Road trip 2010
After a two year hiatus, our fourth Forgotten Alberta road trip was underway. Following an evening of revelry with hosts Mike & Karin (and cousin Steve), myself and my wheel-man Greg headed out from Brooks on the morning of August 17th to see what we could see. Running from Alderson to Armada in one day, [...]
A city in name only
While the civic fathers remained confident that the village of Bow City would rise like a Phoenix from the scorched prairies, by 1914 most had tired of the empty promises of a railroad and prosperity. With the arrival of the Suffield subdivision branch line to the prairie south and west of the village, new communities [...]
Walter spelled backwards
The C.P.R’s Suffield subdivision – Part Two of Two While rumours continued to surface about possible links to Lethbridge, the final destination of the Suffield subdivision remained a mystery well into 1913. On April 24, any hopes of a link up with Kipp were dashed when the Lethbridge Herald confirmed that the Suffield line would [...]
The C.P.R’s Suffield subdivision – Part One
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, barely a week passed by without somebody floating another proposal for a railroad running from one far-flung corner of Alberta to another. While the vast majority remained dreams and schemes, by 1930 around a dozen of these subdivisions actually made it off the drawing board in [...]
About
Drawing on over 100 years of family history in the southeast, this is my attempt to shine the spotlight on southeastern Alberta's forgotten history.
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